Referring to FIG. 1 (PRIOR ART), there is shown a schematic view of an exemplary glass manufacturing system 100 which utilizes a fusion process to make a glass sheet 138. The fusion process is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,338,696 and 3,682,609, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. As shown, the exemplary glass manufacturing system 100 includes a melting vessel 102, a fining vessel 104, a mixing vessel 106 (e.g., stir chamber 106), a delivery vessel 108 (e.g., bowl 108), a fusion draw machine (FDM) 110, and a traveling anvil machine (TAM) 112. Typically, the components 104, 106 and 108 are made from platinum or platinum-containing metals such as platinum-rhodium, platinum-iridium and combinations thereof, but they may also comprise other refractory metals such as molybdenum, palladium, rhenium, tantalum, titanium, tungsten, or alloys thereof.
The melting vessel 102 is where the glass batch materials are introduced as shown by arrow 114 and melted to form molten glass 116. The melting vessel 102 is connected to the fining vessel 104 (e.g., finer tube 104) by a melting to fining vessel connecting tube 113. The fining vessel 104 has a high temperature processing area that receives the molten glass 116 (not shown at this point) from the melting vessel 102 and in which bubbles are removed from the molten glass 116. The fining vessel 104 is connected to the mixing vessel 106 (e.g., stir chamber 106) by a finer to stir chamber connecting tube 118. And, the mixing vessel 106 is connected to the delivery vessel 108 by a stir chamber to bowl connecting tube 120. The delivery vessel 108 delivers the molten glass 116 through a downcomer 122 into the FDM 110 which includes an inlet 124, a forming vessel 126 (e.g., isopipe 126), and a pull roll assembly 128.
As shown, the molten glass 116 flows from the downcomer 122 into the inlet 124 which leads to the forming vessel 126 (e.g., isopipe 126) which is typically made from a ceramic or a glass-ceramic refractory material. The forming vessel 126 includes an opening 130 that receives the molten glass 116 which flows into a trough 132 and then overflows and runs down two lengthwise sides 134 (only one side shown) before fusing together at what is known as a root 136. The root 136 is where the two lengthwise sides sides 134 come together and where the two overflow walls of molten glass 116 rejoin (e.g., re-fuse) to form the glass sheet 138 which is then drawn downward by the pull roll assembly 128. The TAM 112 has a mechanical scoring device 146a (e.g., scoring wheel 146a) which mechanically scores and separates the drawn glass sheet 138 into distinct pieces of glass sheets 142. Thereafter, additional mechanical scoring and separation devices 146b and 146c (e.g., scoring wheels 146b and 146c) remove the outer edges 140a and 140b from the glass sheets 142 in subsequent processing steps. The removed outer edges 140a and 140b could be broken and collected within a pair of cullet bins 144a and 144b. 
Unfortunately, the application of a mechanical scoring device 146a, 146b or 146c typically results in the formation of problematical chips due to the mechanical impact on the glass sheets 138 and 142. The chips could potentially contaminate the glass sheets 138 and 142. Likewise, the mechanical scoring devices 146a, 146b, or 146c or the mechanical separation process could produce stress concentrating defects along the formed edged and reduce the edge strength of final glass sheets 142. Furthermore, in the glass industry the glass sheets 138 and 142 will likely over time be getting thinner and thinner, which if this occurs then the physical impact of the mechanical scoring device 146a, 146b or 146c on the glass sheets 138 and 142 could shatter or significantly lower the strength of the glass sheets 138 and 142, resulting in the undesirable loss of material and lowered mechanical reliability. Thus, there is a need to address these problems and other problems which are associated with the use of mechanical devices 146a, 146b or 146c to scribe or cut glass sheets 138 and 142. These problems and other problems are solved by the present invention.